


Through a Closed Door

by kathkin



Category: Merlin (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 22:10:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathkin/pseuds/kathkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwen overhears some very private goings on in Arthur's chambers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through a Closed Door

**Author's Note:**

> Set some time during S1, so pre-A/G. Written as a comment fic for the ArMer Gayms: [here](http://armer-gayms.livejournal.com/3345.html?thread=284945#t284945)

Gwen was _supposed_ to be taking some fresh sheets to Arthur’s rooms, because the laundry was understaffed, and she was a frightful pushover. She was _not_ supposed to be eavesdropping. But then again, Arthur and Merlin were supposed to be outside, on the practice field, because there was a tournament in a few days.

She’d had her hand on the door before she heard their voices, laundry balanced awkwardly on one arm. She’d stilled for a moment, about to knock and wait to be called in, but their voices were hushed, so low she couldn’t make out a word through the door, only the tone – there was something new and unfamiliar about it, almost secretive.

She moved a little closer to the door, listened harder, thinking that perhaps she shouldn’t interrupt, when suddenly Arthur’s voice rang out, muffled but clear, even through the closed door.

“Get on the bed, Merlin,” he said. She heard the mattress groaning. “That's it. Now, hands and knees.” Then a pause, and Merlin must have obeyed, because Arthur said, “Good.” That wasn’t like Merlin, to obey without even a word. It was none of her business, of course it wasn’t, she should go away and come back later, but she didn’t move.

The quiet dragged on and on, not a sound from behind the door, and then, abruptly, she heard Merlin whimper. “Do you like that?” A choked moan. Goodness, what was Arthur doing to him? “Good.”

Gwen stepped a little closer to the door. Merlin could be in trouble, after all. Perhaps Arthur was – but no, he wouldn’t, and his tone was so fond.

She heard something clink, metal on metal – a belt buckle, maybe? – followed by a sharp crack of leather and a short cry that bit through the wood of the door. She jerked back from the door, hand clasped to her mouth, then leaned in even closer.

“Do you like _it_?” said Arthur. The last word was accompanied by another slap and a long groan. “Do you, _Mer_ lin?” And another. She could hear the bed groaning as Merlin shifted about.

Then there was a soft sound, so indistinct that it took her a moment to realise that it was Merlin speaking, his voice thick and heated.

“What was that?” she heard Arthur say.

“ _More_.” A hoarse, gasping groan of a word that sent a shiver up her spine. She closed her eyes, and pressed her ear against the wood of the door just as there came another echoing slap.

Merlin's groans grew louder with each blow, and after a few moments Gwen had to bite down hard on her tongue to keep from joining him.

“Harder?” she heard Arthur say. She didn’t hear Merlin’s answer, but it must have been yes, please, yes, because there were two loud cracks, and Merlin yelled.

Then there was silence.

After a few seconds, she heard the bed groan again, sagging under a new weight, and Arthur spoke.

“Well?”

“Mmmm.”

Then a laugh, another contented moan, a few words she couldn't make out, and silence.

She listened for half a minute or so, waiting for them to speak again, her own breathing slowing, heart pounding against the wood of the door, before she came to her senses – goodness, she was pressed up against the door of Arthur’s chambers like some wanton – and it was none of her business, what she’d just overheard was obviously private, very much so, and, and – she backed away from the door, clutching the rumpled sheets to her chest, and fled.

She found it very hard not to blush the next time she saw Merlin, and downright impossible to look him in the eye. Especially when he couldn’t sit down without wincing.


End file.
